takes months to develop.
“ The main target was to
clear all the area to the rear
lower wing because it is a
performance differentiator
now,” said technical director
Sam Michael.
“ You’ve got to have the
underside of the rear lower
wing completely free, so we
took the decision to lift the
top wishbone and the track
rod and go to a Z-bone layout
– which was commonly used in
the early 90’s – to get that all
above the underside (see pic
top left).
“It means that all the weight
is in line with the trailing edge
of the legality box, so you are
nowhere near the underside
of the rear lower wing, and it’s
completely free airflow.”
Red Bull
Having pioneered the exhaust-
blown diffuser last year, Red
Bull are back for more in 2011
with another version of a
blown exhaust.
While the rules don’t allow
for an extreme design as
we saw last year where the
exhaust exited directly into
the diffuser, Red Bull now
have their exhaust exiting at
the trailing edge of the floor
just before the rear tyres to
effectively operate as a blown
diffuser (see pic above right).
The new regulations don’t
allow holes in the diffuser
any more, but Red Bull have
circumvented that rule by
having the gas exit at the edge
of the floor just forward of the
diffuser.
McLaren
The MP4-26 is definitely the
most radically-looking car on
the 2011 grid, with U-shaped
sidepods being a brand new
addition to Formula One.
The strange-looking
sidepods allow the least
turbulent air between the
wheels to enjoy an unhindered
route to the rear of the car
where the cleaner flow helps
create more downforce at the
diffuser, while the turbulent
flow around the wheels is fed
into the radiators to cool the
engine. Packaging constraints
would limit other teams in
adopting the design, as would
cooling requirements.
Another innovation on the
launch specification McLaren
was its radical exhaust. While
most exhausts exit through
two large outlets, McLaren’s
exhaust was believed to
have comprised a multitude
of outlets, allowing them to
more finely tune the exhaust
flow into the diffuser, thereby
making more efficient use of
the gases. The radical design
would have caused problems
with engine tuning among
other things, and McLaren had
to ditch it before the first race
due to reliability problems.
The team would have
completed a risk study on the
radical exhaust, weighing up
the potential of it failing versus
the advantage it would deliver
when working properly. As the
probability of it not working
was considerably high, the lap
time advantage would have
been exceptional. It’s possible
that they will return to the idea
later in the season.
Prior to jetting off to
Melbourne, McLaren removed
the radical exhaust system in
favour of a more conventional
design. The design is very
similar to Red Bull’s, with the
gases exiting at the end of
the floor in front of the rear
tyres. Team principal Martin
Whitmarsh explained that
their radical exhaust hadn’t
delivered sufficient benefit,
likely pointing to as yet
unrealised potential:
“I think the exhaust systems
have become quite extreme
on quite a lot of the cars. I
think we in particular had very
extreme solutions. But I think
that they were not delivering,
in my opinion, sufficient
benefits for their complexity,”
said Whitmarsh.
“I believe that the car isn’t
fundamentally a bad car. I
believe that we need to unlock
the exhaust-blowing potential.”
Elsewhere
Most other teams have gone
down more conventional
routes in designing their
cars, with no other stand-out
features of note.
Teams will have taken note
of the latest innovations on
their rivals’ cars though, and
development work will have
shifted into high gear to ensure
a raft of car updates and
upgrades in time for the first
European Grand Prix of 2011 at
the Spanish Grand Prix in mid-
May. As one of the few areas of
free development remaining
in the current regulations,
exhaust design is sure to be
pushed further to the limit,
as the unrelenting search for
added hundredths of a second
continues at a staggering pace.
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F1 FEATURE
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